Just curious... what's everyone using for their audio interfaces?

[jorhay1]

 

Tascam US-144. It works for my solo ramblings, S/PDIF I/O, bus powered, mic pres w/phantom if I need, instrument and line ins, built like tank. This topic brought out a lot of posts Phil...:phil:

 

 

Pretty much this and a Forat modified Motu 828 in the garage.

I love the UI of the 2626 but not being able to boost/attn gain on the hardware of line inputs 3-8 is irritating but prolly has a sonic advantage.

For portable laptop stuff i love my crappy Tascam, and get a lot done on it.

Sold my 192s. They just sat there.

I also have 2 M Boxes that I hate and never use.

[turnitto11]

I'm using a PreSonus FireStudio Project. Works great with my macbook pro, some windows users seem to have some issues though.

 

Pro's: Very straight forward, not a million different ways to do one thing, just preamp, and some outputs. Cool. Also easy to daisy chain other PreSonus FireStudio interfaces. Doesn't sound bad to me (but I don't really know what a good preamp or interface sounds like, haven't got around much), not noisy. I also really like the combination XLR and 1/4" inputs. A lot of interfaces these days seem to have that though, so it's not really unique.

 

Con's: If you want more channels, you have to get another PreSonus FireStudio interface. It's not a big deal to me since my other recording buddy has the same one, so we can daisy chain to get 16 channels, but it's not as versatile as just having something with ADAT and being able to use anything else with ADAT. Universal Control also seems very difficult to use, and very easy to use at the same time. I don't know what it is, but it just seems like a big burden at times, but it's also so easy. I don't know, probably just me being a diva.

 

Whatevs, it works great for my needs, so I consider it a great product with great value for me.

[majafa]

Focusrite Saffire PRO 14. It's somewhat small to carry along when I go somewhere and it's firewire, which I wanted because all my usb inputs are always in use.

[bierball]

Apogee Duet, the first version. Couldn't be happier, sounds great, perfectly integrated with Logic and works great with Cubase too. The AD/DA's and the mic preamps are stunning.

[mitre]

 

tascam 4 track cassette recorder. does that count?

 

 

Until the power adapter crapped out on my trusty Tascam 424, I was using that as a mixer into my Line 6 Toneport. Now I'm just using the Toneport, but I'm looking at getting a new interface. This thread has been incredibly helpful--I think the (now discontinued, of course) Tascam US-800 is what I'm looking for. I need line-in's way more than XLR inputs, because I mainly record instrumental music directly into my interface.

[chevybusa]

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. It's actually not mine, a buddy of mine bought it so I could record him playing acoustic guitar and singing, and add piano, strings, horns, percusssion, etc. etc. I've gotta say I absolutely LOVE it, couldn't be happier with it, it sounds absolutely {censored}ing great, and it was pretty much just plug and play....It really is a great interface.

 

Years ago I had used a Presonus Inspire 1394 and absolutely loved it, but once I became completely ITB I realiezd I wasn't really using it at all so I sold it.

[mister natural]

EMU 1212m for audio in and out - all my midi functions are via usb (LaunchPad, NanoKontrol, MPD, keyboard)
M-Audio BlkBox for my guitar tracking thru another usb

I found the 1212 a bit fussy to set-up, but once I dialed it in; it sounds excellent (although I never use the included DSP functions)
The BlkBox has the only cleans for my EGuitars that I found to like the sound of direct, plus it has a handy footswitch & wah pedal

[mike.sartori]

I use the focusrite Saffire pro 40, with the octopre mk ii dynamic. It's got plenty of ins and out, great preamps, and the flexibility of mic/line combo jacks. The free focusrite plugins are pretty decent too.

[genesis3]

I've been pretty happy with this for about 10 yrs...




...I dunno if DAC's fidelity have improved since these came out..probably have..the first thing I noticed when first using it, was how more natural cymbals sounded. I love that most connectors are on the back and that you can Output to multiple monitors,etc. Only downside is I still haven't figured out how to make mutiple audio apps work with it lol..if the DAW app is open, it hogs the driver apparently

[Phil O'Keefe]

I still haven't figured out how to make mutiple audio apps work with it lol..if the DAW app is open, it hogs the driver apparently

 

Echo's stuff is supposed to support multi-client audio. IOW, multiple apps can (or at least are supposed to be able to) access the hardware at the same time. What operating system and DAW are you running?

 

You might want to click on this link (scroll to the very bottom) and contact their customer service / tech support and see if they can offer any suggestions.

[genesis3]

Echo's stuff is supposed to support multi-client audio. IOW, multiple apps can (or at least are supposed to be able to) access the hardware at the same time. What operating system and DAW are you running? You might want to click on this link (scroll to the very bottom) and contact their customer service / tech support and see if they can offer any suggestions.

 

 

 

I'm using Windows XP and SONAR XL....I found old emals from echo that I just remembered...after a few back and forths their engineer emailed me this reply:

 

 

"Applications such as Sonar require exclusive use of the inputs and outputs on the device. That means that Windows Media Player cannot access the outputs while Sonar is using them.

Typically, if you want to use multiple audio applications simultaneously you need to use an external mixer."

 

Kinda defeats the whole idea of 'multi-client' ! ..It's a very minor annoyance, because I seldom need or want another program open when SONAR is, but, there are times it's nice to have a stereo playback of something going for reference,etc...SONAR has an option to 'Share drivers with other programs', and when I check it, sure enough the other program will start playback when it's checked, but then SONAR won't playback and says the audio device may be in use unless I select a different set of outputs , which is goofy 'cause my main monitors which I want to use are attached to Output 1/2. ASIO or WDM/KS..same dealie...Only workaround is an external mixer as the engineer put it but I can't be bothered for that so I'll make do..I'm about ready to upgrade to something newer anyway, but would like to find something with similar ins/outs on the backside..

[zelmobeaty]

M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. A pleasant suprise as an upgrade from a Line 6 Toneport.

[TBush]

I've been using this and a MOTU 2408 Mkll since 1999.

[timmit65]

At home, I use the Presonus Audiobox 1818. When I travel, I use the Fire Studio Mobile. I love the FS Mobile and now that they upgraded the firmware and VSL App for the 1818, I like it lots, too! I've used Lexicon, Line6, Roland, Emu and Echo in the past, and feel like the Presonus is an upgrade. BTW, I really like the Studio One Software.

[MadKeithV]

RME Audio Hammerfall DSP Multiface II

 

 

I'm still an original Hammerfall DSP Multiface user.

 

Pros, aside from mentioned in previous posts:

- It's rock-solid on every single platform I've used it on, and that's quite a few through the years.

 

Cons:

- It's the PCI (& PCMCIA) version still, which means I'll probably have to replace it with my next computer, because the connectivity will have become obsolete. It's already impossible to use it with modern laptops because they simply don't have PCMCIA slots anymore.

- The jacks at the back are too close together, but RME fixed that quite a bit with the II.

 

I'd DEFINITELY get an RME again, it's lasted way longer than the computers I've used it with, and I'm still using it happily (All the way from Win2K to Windows Vista 64 bit).

[TBush]

I've been using this and a MOTU 2408 Mkll since 1999.

I forgot to include the following:

Pros:
*Pre-record EQ on 16 ins. I know- "no EQ going to 'tape'", but I do it all the time.
*Easy to quickly monitor and adjust inputs/playback when tracking an entire band simultaneously.
*Has 100 separate scenes- nice to use just one scene for a whole project, and adjust individual song settings in the software.
*Built-in buss compressors (2) plus 2 channels of cheap-ish Lexicon FX. Don't use them too much anymore, but nice to have the option.
*Easy buss assignments

Cons:
*Not a controller- still using a mouse to adjust almost everything within the software.

[BryanMichael]

Presonus Firebox.

[temnov]

RME UFX. Great clean( in a good way) sound,TotalMix is very useful utility as well.

Also what's important I can use bunch of hardware compressors, pres and Lexicon via analog i/o and Bricasti via AES/EBU. Totall happy with it. Will get another converter later to connect it via lightpipe to add more i/o.

Zoom 16 and Focusrite Saffire PRO DSP24 for location recording.

[Lee Flier]

Allen & Heath ZED R16. I love it. How could it be improved? If it had 24 channels and moving faders... like the (unfortunately much more expensive) GSR24.

[henrebotha]

I should qualify my post: I'm South African, and gear here is insanely expensive. (To get an idea: take the US street price of a product, double it, and add a bit. That's what we pay for most things.)

 

I use an Alesis io|2. I initially got it because I was using a laptop for production, and I needed an all-in-one audio and MIDI solution. Unfortunately, it turns out that the bundled driver was glitchy as all hell on my system, but luckily I eventually discovered ASIO4All, which alleviated my audio woes (but left me in the lurch a bit with stuck MIDI notes).

 

I have to fault Alesis with not updating the driver even once since the device's release, especially since it shipped before Vista was released.

 

I really like the switchable impedance on the line ins (guitarist). The input meters are all but useless - four LEDs just doesn't give me anything useful. How expensive could it be to add two LEDs on each side?! I suppose the S/PDIF is nice, but I've never used it. I like the analogue volume controls; nowadays, if I'm not recording, I often use the io|2 just to have an analogue control for headphone volume.

[dzara]

Benchmark AD and DA.

doesnt get much better then this for me

[sdelsolray]

Digi003 as a dongle (PT 10 native). Lucid 88192 AD and DA connected to the 003 via ADAT. Pendulum Audio MDP-1a, Pendulum Audio SPS-1, dbx 786 and ADK AP2 preamps connected to the 8 inputs of the 88192. Mix ITB. Monitoring out of the 88192 through a monitor controller to Quested monitors.